Some Acadian Migrations

Dear Cousins,

Today I want to share a bit of history concerning the resettlement of the Acadians who went to Quebec when their exile had ended. In 1755, many Acadian families were exiled to Massachusetts and Connecticut. It was many of these families who chose Quebec as their destination once repatriated following the 1763 Treaty of Paris.

After 1755, Acadians from Ile Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island) built small fishing boats to ply their trade and made their way to Québec by sailing the St. Lawrence River. Approximately 600 Acadians were in Québec by October 1756.

As Acadians were moved from Miramichi by Lieutenant Charles de Boishébert and from Ile Saint-Jean by Governor Raymond de Villejoin, they went to Québec. There was such a great movement of Acadians that by 1758, there were more than 1,600 Acadians living in the capital of New France, Québec. Three hundred or so of them died from smallpox between November 27, 1757 to March 1, 1758.

Some Acadians who hoped to go to Québec never arrived being captured instead by the English in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and then brought to Halifax, Nova Scotia where they were held on George's Island.

Some of the Acadian refugees settled on the south shore of the St. Lawrence near Québec in Bellechasse and Lotbinière counties.

Others searched for other villages and their descendants can still be found in places like Beaumont, Saint-Vallier, Montmagny, Cap Saint-Ignace, L'Islet, Kamouraska and Rimouski.

With Québec as their focal point, some Acadians went along the St. Lawrence to Beauport, Saint-Joachim, Bae Saint-Paul, Cap-Santé, Deschambault, Batiscan, Champlain, Trois-Rivières, Pointe du Lac, Yamachiche, Louiseville and Maskinongé.

EXILES FROM MASSACHUSETTS ENTER CANADA

When the Deportation years had ended, two groups of Acadian Exiles from Massachusetts arrived in Québec on September 1st and September 8th, 1766. A great many lost no time settling in Saint-Grégoire de Nicolet, which had been settled earlier by the first Acadians to arrive there as well as in Bécancour. They joined others who had arrived in previous years when fleeing from the Deportation. Those first settlers had come from the St. John River, New Brunswick, through the Madawaska territory and Cacouna on the St. Lawrence River, or from Ile Saint-Jean.

Beginning 1767, exiles returning from New England eventually founded the parish of L'Acadie, near Saint-Jean d'Iberville. They also settled the vast seigneury of Longueuil which belongd to Captain Alexander Grant who inherited it from his French-Canadian wife, Charlotte LeMoyne.

The first order of business when the Exiles arrived in Québec was to search for parents, children and other relatives from whom they had been separated at Deportation. This is why some families originally in one location are later found elsewhere.

ACADIAN EXILES SETTLE IN MONTRÉAL

Twelve families for a total of 80 persons arrived by Lake Champlain at L'Assomption on the seigneury of Saint-Sulpice near Montreal in 1766. Their names were: Joseph Brault, Joseph Dupuis, Armand Dupuis, Joseph Hébert, Pierre Lanoue, Pierre Martin, Charles Landry, Jean-Baptiste Landry, Germain Landry, Joseph LeBlanc, François Leblanc and François Poirier.

In May 1767, about 40 other families consisting of several hundred Acadians arrived at Québec from Massachusetts and Connecticut by schooner. Many of the Acadian Exiles, deported in 1755, had civil marriages in the New England Colonies contracted before witnesses assigned by the Catholic Church of Québec. all these marriages, as well as baptisms, were re-validated upon their arrival at L'Assomption, as found in the parish registers. (This means that the marriages were given the nuptial blessing of the Church.)

Many Acadians who had settled at Saint-Jacques-de-l'Achigan left to settle in Montreal. They would return to Saint-Jacques temporarily to marry, to have their children baptized or even to be buried. One of those families was the Dupuis family. This family was well known in Montreal for a quarter of a century and they had come there from Saint-Jacques-de-l'Achigan.

Nazaire Dupuis was born in 1844 of acadian parents: Joseph Dupuis and Euphraisie Richard.

Afer the death of his father in 1864, Nazaire went to Montreal. His whole family followed him: his mother, his sister and his seven brothers. He was the oldest of the family and little by little he learned a bit about commerce. Dupuis Frères became an important landmark in Montreal and at one point employed 2,000 people. They became known through all of Canada thanks to catalogue sales.

ACADIAN PIONEERS/REFUGEES AT CARLETON, QUÉBEC

It would seem that the first Acadian Families went to Carleton, Québec in the Fall of 1755. However, though this has been believed over the years, there are no official documents that substantiate this is a fact.

In his study of the movements of the Acadian refugees from the time of the capture of Fort Beauséjour by the English in 1755 until the winter of 1756-1757 spent at Miramichi, Bona Arsenault in his History of the Acadians Fides - 1994 - ISBN 2-7621-1745-3 - believed that it was highly improbable that any of the refugees cut themselves off from the group who went to Baie-Verte, as certain historians claim, and then to have moved immediately to Carleton where there was no supply post of any kind at that time.

Carleton used to be called Tracadièche. Its english name was given it by Lord Dorches who was Sir Guy Carleton. He gave this locale the name of Carleton in approximately 1795. It is located 40 miles west of Bonaventure on Baie des Chaleurs from where it is believed Acadians may have come to settle in Carleton, according to Mr. Arsenault. Lord Dorchester named the neighboring parish, Maria, after his wife. He had been one of Wolfe’s lieutenants at the Battle of the Plaines d’Abraham in Québec were he was wounded.

The 1777 census for Carleton listed 36 men, 36 women, 90 boys, including 14 orphans, 93 children, 63 cattle, 2 horses, 37 sheep and 12 swine. Among the names we find: Allard, Arseneau/Arsenault , Barillot, Bergeron dit d’Amboise, Bernard, Boudreau, Bour/Bourque, Bujeaut/Bugeaud/Bujol/Bujold, Comeau, Couroit, Dugas, Gravois, Jeanson/Johnson, Landry, LeBlanc, Lebrun/Brun, Meunier, Poirier, Richard and Savoie.

ACADIAN SETTLEMENT ON THE MAGDALEN ISLANDS

Acadian refugees who went to the Magdelen Islands had come primarily from Ile St-Jean (today’s Prince Edward Island), and from Miquelon. The Magdalen Islands are located in the center of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and were discovered by Jacques Cartier, who had stopped here in 1534 during his exploration of the Gulf and the Gaspé region.

In its earlier days, the Magdalen Islands were once part of the vast concession granted to Nicolas Denys along with other lands bordering the Gulf in 1653. Between 1663-1742, other grantees held possession of them, but none of these lived on the islands for any length of time. Known today for its lobster fishery, from its origins, the Islands have been the backbone of Canadian walrus hunting and its cod fishery.

Up to about 1765, the Islands remained virtually free of settlers, other than the occasional migrating Amerindians who visited there en route to their hunting grounds. In the early 1760s, in compensation for his role of service to the British army in the conquest of Quebec, Massachusetts resident Richard Gridley sought and received concession to these islands to pursue codfishing and the walrus hunt for his own gain. By 1765, Gridley had recruited from Prince Edward Island, several Acadian families to work at his fishing post. We know that on 31 August 1765, an oath of allegiance was signed by 22 of his workers, among whom were 17 were Acadians and 5 Canadians. After Gridley lost control of his enterprise, all of these Acadian families (which included Arsenaults, Haché-Gallants, Chiassons and Poiriers) returned to Prince Edward Island. It was only the family of François Boudrot dit Manne and two of his sons, Joseph and François, who remained at Havre- Aubert as its first settlers, this fact recently discovered by Madelinot researcher Dennis Boudreau.

After leaving Miquelon in late fall of 1767, and spending several years as tenant farmers on Prince Edward Island, the orignal settlers of Havre-Aubert were joined by these close relatives from Prince Edward Island. By 1771, the families of Joseph Boudrot dit Castor and some of the Chiassons removed to settle permanently at Havre-Aubert, while others from the family went on to settle at Chéticamp on Cape Breton.

In 1792, in several smaller migrations, the majority of Acadians living at Miquelon fled the winds of the French Revolution, by deserting that island and heading west and south to the Magdalens and to Arichat on Ile Madame. At the lead of these groups were its priests, Fathers Jean-Baptiste Allain and François Lejamtel, who rather than accept the provisions of the New Republic, encouraged their congregations to seek a newer home where they could live and worship without encumbrance. Among those who fled Miquelon were some who had known firsthand the effects of the original Acadian exile, being deported to the American colonies, or several times back and forth to France, while the possession of Miquelon volleyed between France and England.

Of the about 250 pioneers (ancestors and children), the Acadians spread out from the fishing village of Havre-Aubert to other parts of the Islands, to Bassin, Étang-du-Nord, Cap-aux-Meules, Havre-aux-Maisons and Grande- Entrée. Today, about 95% of the Islands population of 13,000 is formed primarily of the descendants of these original Acadian families.

Since the early-1800s, and the existence there of the feudal regime of Sir Isaac Coffin and his descendants (wich ended around 1900), the Madelinot Acadians have been the main catalyst behind the establishment of other Acadian outposts, primarily in western Newfoundland (at Sandy Point) and on the North Shore of Québec (at Havre St-Pierre, Natashquan, Sept–Iles, and Clarke City). Later Madelinot migrations have settled various portions of the Matapédia (at Amqui and Lac-au-Saumon) and Beauce valleys (at St-Zacharie and St-Théophile), as well as at Kénogami in the Saguenay region, and at Ile Népawa in Abitibi.

Large populations of Islands descendants can also be found today in the Verdun and LaSalle districts of Montréal, in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, and in Québec City, as well as other pockets of Islanders in Pictou, Little Bras d’Or, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, and in the Baie Ste-Anne region of New Brunswick. Like their Québecois counterparts who migrated to the United States, still others migrated to the United States where descendants can still be located in Haverhill, Cambridge and Fall River, Massachusetts and in North Providence, Rhode Island.

Sincere thanks from the Acadian Ancestral Home to Dennis Boudreau for this important contribution regarding the Magdelen Islands.

A FAMILY ARRIVES AT LÉVY

Michel Corneau/Cornu and his wife, Françoise Pitre, arrived in the fall of 1763 At the Pointe de Lévy. Michel was an Acadian from Cobequid. He had gone to the Magdalen Islands/Iles-de-la Madeleine.

He had married, as did many Acadians during the years of Exile by natural contract, in the presence of four witnesses, to Françoise Pitre, not having a priest to bless their union. Their marriage was rehabilitated at the Pointe-de-Lévy on 26-11-1763. The day before they had baptized his daughter, born in the Magdalen Islands on 16-09-1763.

Michel Corneau/Corne was the son of François Corneau/Cornu and Françoise Boucher. His wife, Françoise Pitre descends from Jean dit Jean Marc Pitre (to Marc Pitre/Jeanne Brun to Jean Pitre/Marie Pesseley) and Judith Térriot (to Pierre Térriot and Marie Bourg) who married abt 1729. Michel's father Jean dit Marc Pitre died while a prisoner at Fort Edward (Pisiguit/Windsor) between July and August 1762.

Michel Corneau came to the Pointe-de-Lévy with his two brothers André and Jean-Baptiste and a sister, Geneviève. André married, the 29-04-1765, Ursule Lacasse. Geneviève married the 01-07-1765, Ambroise Charest. Jean-Baptiste married the 16-08-1774, Françoise Guay.

Ref: Les Acadiens dans Bellechasse, by Pierre-Maurice Hébert, p. 52-53 (Courtesy of James Carten).

SAINT-GRÉGOIRE, BÉCANCOUR, NICOLET COUNTY, QUÉBEC

In doing Acadian research, we find many Ancestors who went to Québec to begin life anew following their long years in exile. In searching baptismal, marriage and burial records as we go through the Repertoires, we often find ancestors who, following their exile, had their marriages blessed (referred to as being rehabilitated) in the Catholic Church. We find many of these at Saint-Grégoire as one of the places most often referenced to check for information. Then too, there is l’Assomption and areas surrounding Montréal but for now we will talk about the history of Saint-Grégoire.

The Acadians worked incessantly to have a parish of their own at Bécancour. Between 1784 and 1790, the Acadian Community of Sainte-Marguerite (the future Saint-Grégoire) had grown to several hundred people. This was a great increase in the same time period compared to other parishes where the Acadians had settled. It was during this period of time that the Acadian immigrants arrived succesively in large groups. The land owners known as seigneurs, were also pressuring the bishop and the government so that the settlers on their lands would be organized into a parish.

The situation was a bit complex due to the fact that the Acadians were actually situated between two parishes that were equally attractive to them. The farmers of Bécancour wanted to remain attached to their parish and at the same time, Nicolet did not want to lost the contributions of the new settlers considering the debt owed on the new church that had been built. It was not until 1802 that the question was settled between government and bishop of Nicolet. Numbering 1,757 people, the Acadians would finally have their parish.

The canonical establishment of the parish took place 18 August 1802. On November 4, 1802, the first Mass was said in the first rectory that had just been completed. It is also on this same date that the first Registers of the parish exist.

The church itself opened for worship in 1806. This is the oldest church in the diocese of Nicolet and it is a beautiful church that the Acadians are very proud.

Some of the streets are names as follows: Poirier, Béliveau, Gaudet, Cormier, Gauthier, LeBlanc, Héon, Thibodeau, Forest, Prince.

A list of the first Acadians to arrive at Bécancour was compiled by Louis Richard:

The first Acadians who sought refuge at Bécancour and who were there in the Fall of 1758 came mostly from Beaubassin. These were: Joseph Richard and his wife Françoise Cormier, Pierre Bourg/Bourque and his wife Anne Richard, Jacques Bourg/Bourque and his wife Marguerite Cormier, Pierre Cormier and his wife Judith Gallant, Étienne Migneau Madeleine Cormier, Charles Gaudet widower of Marie Cormier who died in Québec 14 December 1757, Madeleine Bourg/Bourque, widow of Pierre Richard, Antoine Béloni Bourg/Bourque, widower of Marie-Joseph Hébert, Claude Hébert and Marguerite Robichaud, Jean-Baptiste Hébert and Marie-Anne Amireau, François Robichaud and Cécile Thibodeau, Simon Darois and Anne Thibodeau, François Doucet and Marie Poirier.

Louis Richard adds to this list of Acadians from Beaubassin a few from Port-Royal: some Part, Roy, Bélliveau, Leprince, Richard, Forest, Bourgeois, Leblanc, Hébert, Thjibeau, Héon, Arseneau; and others from the St-Jean river area: Michel, Comeau, Guilbeau, Breau, Gaudet and Chandonnay.

The first Acadians in Bécancour either worked for other farmers, pursued fishing or yet became part of the defense militia of Canada, which would capitulate to the British in 1760. It does not seem as if they occupied any lands or given any lands before 1760. Nonetheless, from 1760 until the Treaty of Paris in 1763, the Acadians maintained a very low profile as much as possible fearful of what the British might to do them.

Once the Treaty of Paris was signed, Seigneur Montesson granted 30 some odd concessions of land to the Acadians of Bécancour. They were: François Gaudet, Amand Bourque, Simon Bourque, Charles Gaudet, Étienne Mignaux, Pierre and Joseph Héon, Jean Bourque, Joseph Bourque, Jean-Baptiste Alin, François Cormier, Pierre Bourque, Jacques Bourque, Michel and Charles Leprince, Joseph Leprince, Belony Bourque, Jean Leprince, Pierre Cormier, Bercasse Benoist, Pierre Arsenaux, Charles Héon, Joseph Richard, father, Amand Thibaud, Bonaventure Durand (not Acadian but given land in the same area as the Acadians), Pierre Bergeron, Régis Pare, Jean Pare, Claude Hébert, Charles Gaudet.

Today there is a bridge across the St. Lawrence Seaway from Trois-Rivières. When crossing the bridge, you arrive in the heart of Saint-Grégoire where many Acadian ancestors settled when the Deportation years of 1755-1763 had ended.

SAINT-DENIS-SUR-RICHELIEU AND ST-OURS,QUÉBEC

Three LeBlanc families arrived at Saint-Denis in 1767. A fourth LeBlanc family settled at St-Ours.

Their names can be found in the parish registers as the parents had their children baptized who had not been able to be baptized when born in exile. The children of Gregoire Bourgeois and Catherine Comeau were baptized at Saint-Denis the same day as the LeBlanc children, that is to say, 10 September 1767.

Étienne Mignault had escaped from Georgia and headed for Québec. His wife, Madeleine Cormier, had been able to escape through the woods of Acadia rather than embark on a deportation ship and had made her way to Quebec.

Étienne found her and they went on to Bécancour. Later, they chose to settle in Saint-Denis where they had first arrived in 1767. Sophie Mignault, a religious (nun) from the family, told of her ancestor deported to Georgia and his evasion to Quebec: "Étienne Mignault was, with many of his compatriots, brought captive to Georgia and forced to work on the plantations. He was treated like the slaves and chained at night. After many years of captivity, on night they forgot to put the chains on him and he took advantage of the opportunity to escape into the woods. He walked toward the north and after many months of walking, he finally found himself on the banks of the St-Lawrence and began to search for his family.

Along with the group that had settled in 1767, more Acadians came to settle at St-Denis-sur-Richelieu: brothers Pierre and Claude Bourque both married, one to Anne Richard and the other to Marie Guilbault; Joseph Lebrun, Jean-Baptiste Brault and his grandmother Marie Hébert, Pierre and Marguerite Robichaud, Étienne Roy and Marie-Anne Doiron. As for the Gaudets, Joseph settled at Saint-Denis with his wife Josephte Sincennes, while Charles and Claude settled at Saint-Antoine.

Joseph Girouard, who had chosen Saint-Ours with his brother Pierre, came later to acquire land at St-Denis with his spouse Anastasie LeBlanc. These two brothers were coming from Quebec where they had fought with Montcalm and Lévis. Jean-Marie Richard, son of Pierre Richard and Madeleine Bourque, deported to Philadelphia, came to join the "little Acadie" of Saint-Denis where there are still many descendants.

Names of Acadians who acquired land in St-Ours: Arsenault, Cormier, Hébert, Daigle, Gaudet, Girouard, Bourgeois, Roy, Leblanc, and more.... At Saint-Denis: LeBlanc, Bourgeois, Mignault, Bourque, Brun, Brault, Robichaud, Roy, Gaudette, Girouard and Richard.

From 1767 to 1905, Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu saw these families settle there: Leblanc, Bourgeois, Mignault, Brun, Brault, Robichaud, Roy, Gaudette, Girouard and Richard. 1767-1905.

Ref: Historie de Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, by l'abbé J.B.A. Allaire

Many Acadians settled at Saint-Charles de l'Achigan. The family of Joseph RICHARD and Anne BASTARACHE arrived in 1769.

On l'Achigan river, some Acadians were in charge of running the mills. Christian Roy wrote: "with the arrival of many Acadians, after 1759 and especially after 1766, almost of the land of l'Achigan was taken by 1772. When Charles PELLERIN, navigator and Acadian in origin, married Monique DUGAS in 1773, he was living at the mills of l'Achigan at MM. of Saint-Sulpice. Joseph DUGAS, his father-in-law, widower of Marguerite ROBICHAUD, was a miller at the mills and also lived there. Pierre LEBLANC, also an Acadian, was in charge of the saw-mill and lived in one of the houses there."

In 1797, Basile LEBLANC, father of Pierre, was in charge of the flower mill.

LA BEAUCE, QUÉBEC

The Bourque descendants in Beauce, Québec descend from Alexandre BOURQUE who married Marie HÉBERT in Grand-Pré 1734. It seems that this couple had 10 children at the time of the deportation. After the years of exile, many married in Beauce beginning in 1767 and mostly at Saint-François.

The BARRIAULT family settled in Beauce abt 1775. The common ancestor, Nicolas married Martine HÉBERT, daugther of Étienne and Marie GAUDET in 1681, Port-Royal. Their grandson, Antoine, married to Angélique THIBODEAU, ws from Grand-Pré and had many children. One of them, Jean-Baptiste Barriault, married Marguerite DOUCET abt 1750 and married a second time to Marguerite LANDRY and a third marriage to Marguerite POULIOT. It is from this last marriage that the Barriaults married at Saint-François and at Saint-Joseph de Beauce descend beginning in 1775.

The Landry families of Beauce arrived a few years after the deportation. The children of Jean-Baptiste LANDRY and of Marguerite MELANSON of Port-Royal were in Bas Canada as of 1760, when their son Jean-Baptiste married Catherine BRAULT at Saint-Joachim. Their children then went to Beauce where many generations spread out to Saint-Georges, Sainte-Marie and Saint-Martin.

The Acadian Morins of Beauce arrived before the deportation. The ancestors settled in Bas-Canada as of the 17th century, coming from Beaubassin. They went to Saint-François de Beauce, to Sainte-Marie and Saint-Joseph de Beauce. They also settled in other parishes. The Acadian MORINS are numerous on the southern banks of the St. Lawrence: Beauce, Bellechase, Bas du Fleuve.

The Acadian Poiriers are also numerous on the southern banks of the St. Lawrence. The POIRIER ancestors came from Beaubassin and as others, had escaped the deportation. What happened to the family of Michel POIRIER and Marie-Josephte BRUN illustrates quite well the drama of the children who had been dispersed/separated from their families during the deportation: Gregoire married at Saint-Charles de Bellechase in 1759, Michel at Ile Saint-Jean (Prince Edward Island) in 1758, Marie-Joste at Lotbinière in 1767, Marie-Agnès at Saint-Pierre-les-Becquets in 1767, and Pierre at Sainte-Marie de Beauce in 1772. Many descendants of these first ancestors in this area remained in Beauce: at Sainte-Marie, at Saint-Georges and at Saint-Elzéar.

Michel THIBODEAU/THIBAUDEAU, married in Grand-Pré to Marie RICHARD on 18 September 1729. Their children undoutedly experienced the deportation since the oldest child, Thimothée and spouse Marie AUCOIN were in exile in 1760. In 1771, he married a second time at Beauport to Élizabeth BÉLANGER. His brother Pierre had married at Saint-Marie de Beauce in 1768 to Marie PROTEAU. Pierre married a second time to Angélique ROUSSEAU 28 October 1816. One of his brothers, Germain married at l'Islet and another brother Joseph died on Ile d'Orléans, Québec in 1760.

Another THIBAUDEAU family that was deported setttled at Saint-François, Beauce at the end of the 18th century. Joseph-Amable married Marguerite RANCOURT in 1769 at Saint-Joachim. His brothers and sisters had been deported but five of his children marrried at Saint-Francois de Beauce and another at Saint-Joseph.

Pierre CRESSAC dit TOULOUSE married 1. Anen COMEAU of Chipoudy in 1755 and five years later, Catherine VINCENT. They children from these two marriages, and their descendants, settled at Beauce (St-Joseph and St-François).

François HEBERT and Marie-Anne BOURG of Beaubassin had a large family that was torn apart at the deportation. Their daughter died at sea and two of their sons had their marriages blessed at St-Pierre & Miquelon in 1766 (which meant they had been married in exile without a priest). The oldest of the family, Joseph, sought refuge in Ile d'Orléans, Quebec in 1756 and married Charlotte POULIN in 1762. Their two frist sons settled at Ste-Marie de Beauce. Three others went to Nicolet and Yamaska. A daughter and three sons remained at l'Ile d'Orléans. The first ancestors of these HÉBERTS were Antoine HÉBERT and GENEVIÈVE LEFRANC.

NOTE: The connection of François HEBERT descending from Antoine and Geneviève LeFranc was updated on December 30, 2007. An error from the book "Les Acadiens du Québec" attributed François' descent from Etienne HEBERT and Marie GAUDET. Apologies for the incorrect information and any inconvience caused.

Source: Translation by Lucie LeBlanc Consentino of "Les Acadiens du Québec" by Pierre-Maurice Hébert - ISBN 2-920312-32-4

As for the Acadians who settled in New England: to my knowledge not many remained in New England when their years of exile had ended though it is conceivable that some may have stayed though I suspect the number would have been minimal.

The bulk of Acadians who settled in New England migrated mostly from the Canadian Maritimes in the mid to late 1800s. My grandparents left Shédiac, New Brunswick and migrated to New Bedford, Massachusetts in the 1880s where my father was born several years later. They then moved on to Lawrence, Massachusetts.

I hope you have enjoyed this bit of history.

Your Cousin,

Lucie

© Lucie LeBlanc Consentino
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